Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. D: I've been kind of lazy lately, and I'm still deciding where to go with this story. In fact, there's another version of this chapter, and I'm thinking about using it in a later chapter. If I had stuck with that other one, this story would've been done at about chapter 10, and I just didn't want to let this story go so soon. Cheers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of it's characters, plots, etc. This fanfiction is merely for recreational purposes.
Spring, Day 20, Monday
"What?! No way!" Ann exclaimed. It was eight in the evening, the main floor of the Inn was crowded, and Claire was sitting across from Ann at the bar trying to get her to shut up.
"Ann! There are other people here!" Claire hissed. Her cheeks were flushed from a hard day's work, and she had just told Ann about the note from Mary. She sighed and took another sip of her drink. "Ann, this just isn't going to work. We have to drop this plan of yours."
Ann looked like she had just been punched in the stomach. A millisecond later, she was wearing an unusually calm and expressionless mask.
"Ann…?" Claire said, a hint of fear entering her voice. When Ann looked like this, it usually meant that something bad was about to happen.
"I need to talk to you," Ann said in a monotone voice, shortly before actually pulling Claire over the short length of the bar and into the back room.
"Ouch!," Claire yelped as she was roughly pushed onto Ann's bed. Ann stood in front of her, crossed her arms, and exploded.
"CLAIRE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
"Ann, I- "
"WE CAN'T JUST ABANDON THE PLAN!"
"No, really-"
"I MEAN, COME ON!"
"ANN!" Claire shouted at a volume that any sane person would find beyond their reach.
Ann immediately quieted and dropped her arms, looking sheepish.
Claire sighed in irritation. "Ann, we, no, I, have to drop this. Mary likes Gray and if I stay on this track, I'll probably hurt her in the long run. And you know Mary. She's a sweet girl."
Ann dropped into a chair across from her bed. "Well, what are you going to do, Claire?"
"I honestly have no idea. Maybe I should just go back to avoiding him. It would give Mary a chance with Gray, anyway."
Ann snorted. "Hah. That's a horrible idea. You know that if you do that, he'll think something's up. Why don't you just try to be friends with him?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "I can't be friends with him. Acquaintances maybe, friends no. He hasn't accepted my apology. In fact, he's probably still waiting for that kiss."
"Oh, Claire, Claire, Claire," Ann chuckled, "At this point, that kiss is most definitely irrelevant."
"…Right," Claire sarcastically agreed. Taking a glance down at her watch, she stood up and headed for the door. "It's getting late and I still need to get Cookies into the barn; it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'll see you later, Ann."
Spring, Day 21, Tuesday
Strangely enough, it was not raining when Claire woke up. She smiled to herself and walked over to the barn to get Cookies. "Come on, Cookies," Claire cooed, trying to get the cow to venture out of the barn and into the pasture. "Look, it's nice and sunny outside!" But all her persuasion was in vain; Cookies would not budge. "Okay, fine. I'll just let you stay in here, you silly cow."
Claire walked back out into the sunlight, savoring the warmth as the weather forecast for tomorrow and the next few days had been rain. But then again, they had been wrong about today, maybe they were wrong about the next few days, too. She snatched her fishing rod quickly from her house and headed out into town and towards the beach.
Unfortunately, it did indeed start raining, no, pouring, as soon as Claire stepped foot onto the beach. "Eek!" Claire squeaked, seeking shelter underneath the nearest cover, which happened to be a beach shack of some sort. The rain was falling so heavily that Claire did not happen to see someone heading towards the same spot she was heading.
And so Claire collided into a brown-haired stranger ten feet before getting to cover. "Oh, screw it. I'm already soaked anyway," she thought. And then realized that the impact had thrown both her and the unknown person onto the sand, and she was lying right on top of him. "Yeah, it's definitely a him. Otherwise my face would have landed right on her boobs," she contemplated.
"Uh, can you get off me now?" said a deep voice.
"Oh, right," Claire rolled quickly off the person and stood up, blushing. It was unquestionably a guy. She held out her hand to help the guy up, but he just stood up on his own and tried to wipe the sand off his back, which was pointless really because it just stuck to his wet clothes and refused to be wiped off.
"I'm Claire," she greeted.
The guy just sighed, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over to the cover of the beach shack. "That's better," he said. "I'm Jack."
"You must be new to town. I've never seen you around before."
"Yeah. A boat just dropped me off here about twenty minutes ago. There was supposed to be someone waiting here to show me to the farm."
Claire looked at Jack. He was a few inches taller than her - five foot ten maybe - had messy auburn hair and hazel eyes, and was carrying nothing more than a baseball cap in his hand and a backpack. Jack didn't look all that bad, actually. He was kind of cute. "Wait… a farm?" As far as Claire could tell, there was only one farm in Mineral Town, and she owned it.
"That's right. There was an ad in the newspaper asking for a farmhand" Jack answered, studying Claire's expression, which seemed to change from surprise to confusion to rage all at the same time.
"No way," Claire muttered darkly. "You. You're coming with me," she ordered, pointing at Jack and then grabbing his wrist and dragging him to Mayor Thomas' house.
"Oh! Claire, is that you? What are you doing out on a day like today?" the Mayor asked, his eyebrows raised.
Claire just stared at him like he was the densest person alive. Well, he probably was. She nodded in the direction of Jack, "Who said I needed a farmhand?"
"Oh, um, you see… I think you've been needing some help on your farm lately, Claire. It looks like your shipments have been dwindling in the past few days, and I assumed that handling the farm was too big of a job for just one person… So I put an ad in the paper for a farmhand; basically just an apprentice." The Mayor tugged at his ridiculous hat, trying to look more comfortable than he actually felt.
"YOU WHAT?! WHY?!" Claire yelled, thinking how unbelievable that the mayor would do something like this. And how creepy it was that he was keeping tabs on her shipments – it was no concern of his. She took a deep breath, hoping to calm herself down. "Mayor, did you even think this through? Where is Jack going to stay?"
"Well, on your farm, of course," Mayor Thomas replied, wondering why the girl would ask such an obvious question.
Claire sighed, rubbing her temples, and at the same time trying to resist the urge to strangle the chubby little man. "Thomas, can't Jack just stay at the inn? I'm afraid my home might not be able to house both of us."
The Mayor's eyebrows furrowed. All the while, Jack just stood next to Claire, confused as hell. "Claire, that won't be possible for at least a few days. You see, Gourmet, the judge of the Cooking Festival, is in town, occupying the only free room. However, Jack can use that room when Gourmet leaves, which should be around the beginning of Summer. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll be able to get more work done on the farm, which will be good. Now if you excuse me, I must go meet with Harris for lunch." And with that, the Mayor left Claire and Jack standing in the downpour.
"Claire?" Jack asked hesitantly.
Looking up at Jack through her wet hair, Claire looked like she was going to kill somebody. "What?" she asked in a menacingly low tone.
Jack stayed silent, hoping he wouldn't provoke the poor young farmer. His eyes darted around, avoiding her death glare.
"…Let's go," Claire barked after an awkwardly long silence. She stalked off towards her farm and Jack reluctantly followed.
"Look, I'm sorry if this has caused you trouble, Claire," Jack started to say as they walked down the street.
"Save it," Claire snapped. "It's not your fault… most of it, anyway."
"Okay, look," Jack snapped back, "If this is such a big deal, I can just leave."
Claire stopped, turning to look at Jack, her mouth drawn into a grim line. "Sorry, it's just… this was really unexpected, and… you don't have to leave. We'll figure this out." She managed to give him a half-hearted smile. "Come on; let's get out of this weather."
Gray didn't show up in this chapter! :O And I had a fantastic time making fun of the mayor. Heh.
Hope this chapter was enjoyable
